8. The personal rights of all life forms must be seen as sacred, to the same extent that man’s rights are sacred.

Volumes have been, can be and will be yet written on this subject. But the Vedic directions (again outlined more fully in Sri Ishopanishad) are simple: all living beings are the children of God, and Krishna, God, doesn’t favor one above another. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami has written: “The foolish idea that plants or animals or other living entities have no life is the basic cause of human sin.” He has further said: “Animals are the less intelligent children of God, and because they cannot make protest, you kill them. But no father permits the intelligent sons to kill the useless sons. The father loves all the children, and if the intelligent ones use their intelligence cruelly against the others, there will be punishment.”